Carlesimo lands in Seattle

P.J. Carlesimo was hired yesterday as the new coach of the SuperSonics, eight years after being fired from his last head coaching job and ending Seattle's search that lasted more than two months.

Carlesimo, who previously coached the Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors, spent the past five years as an assistant in San Antonio.

Carlesimo, 58, will oversee the development of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, two of the first five picks from last week's draft. Carlesimo took the Trail Blazers to the playoffs three times in the 1990s, but it was at Golden State where Carlesimo garnered headlines for his infamous run-in with Latrell Sprewell.

Carlesimo's intense, in-your-face approach almost immediately became an issue when tensions developed between him and Sprewell, his star player. The emotions boiled over at a practice Dec. 1, 1997, when Sprewell responded to Carlesimo's terse command to "put a little mustard" on a pass by choking his coach. It took several players and team officials to break up the attack, which an angry Sprewell renewed 15 minutes later.

Carlesimo eventually was fired by the Warriors in 1999.

"The NBA is about the players; there is absolutely no question about that," Carlesimo said. "Hopefully, I have learned from my relations."

Although he didn't rescind his trade request, Kobe Bryant softened his stance somewhat, saying he apologized to Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak in person for the way he handled his upset feelings five weeks ago.

"I just felt like as a man, it was important for me to tell him, 'I'm sorry it came out that way,' " Bryant said. "I was frustrated, I was venting."

When asked if he still wanted out, Bryant replied: "I haven't thought about that in a long, long time."

Bryant, the NBA's leading scorer the past two seasons, complained about a lack of talent around him at season's end, and said May 30 he wanted to be traded, adding nothing could change his mind.

Grant Hill is leaving the Orlando Magic after several injury-plagued seasons to join the Phoenix Suns, his agent, Lon Babby, said. Hill, 34, just completed a seven-year, $93 million contract in Orlando. This year was the first Hill finished healthy since he arrived in Orlando in 2000 with a mysterious ankle injury that eventually required five surgeries. Hill played only about a third of Orlando's 574 regular-season games over the seven years . . . Several first-round picks inked two-year deals, including Miami's Daequan Cook, (21st overall); Sacramento's Spencer Hawes (10th); and Washington's Nick Young (16th). In addition, the Wizards signed Oleksiy Pecherov, their first-round pick and the 18th overall in 2006.